


We thought we lost you

by Jeydon



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 15:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1784659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeydon/pseuds/Jeydon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt: Kieren is about to be sent to Norfolk as a non compliant but Simon and Amy don't know.  A year later Kieren comes back completely changed and wants nothing to do with his family Amy or Simon, so they have to try and remind him of who he really is. [ Changed a bit, Simon and Amy are there when he's taken but they have no idea why he's being taken away, unlike his parents ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	We thought we lost you

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still getting used to writing with these characters so this might not be by best work but you gotta start somewhere, right?

It happened on his birthday. A day that his family still insisted on celebrating no matter how many times he tried to remind them that he wasn't even aging anymore. It was just one of those things his parents and sister needed him to do; something that helped them forget about the fact that he wasn't necessarily alive anymore. Just like the cover up and contacts. Just like pretending to eat the food they cooked for him. They were getting better about accepting his so called differences but celebrating his birthday seemed to be something they would never let go of no matter how many years passed where Kieren still looked exactly the same as he did the day he died.

He stopped in the bathroom before heading downstairs that morning, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to put the cover up and contacts on, only to decide against it. He could pretend to be growing up, pretend that he was a year older, but he couldn't pretend to be something he wasn't, not anymore. 

Despite his inner conflict with the whole birthday thing he couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face when he entered the kitchen to see his family and friends gathered there. He placed a kiss on his mother's cheek, gave his dad a tight hug, his little sister a big grin then made his way over to his best friend and boyfriend. 

His smile got even bigger as Amy practically jumped on him, pulling him into a tight hug, only letting go to poke him on the cheek, "Are you excited for your first undead day, handsome?" she asked, winning a laugh out of Kieren, but not out of his parents who still insisted on calling it a birthday.

It was then that his eyes met Simon's who stood behind her, leaning against the fridge with a blank look on his face. Amy noticed, letting go of him only to push him in the direction of his boyfriend who greeted him with open arms. 

"I'm glad you came," Kieren told him, "Even though your last visit to my house didn't exactly end well," he gave a hesitant smile, trying to make a joke out of what a horrible situation that had been. 

He watched as Simon pulled back, a small smile on his lips despite Kieren's sad attempt at a joke, "How could I miss your first undead day? As Amy put it so nicely," a chuckle fell from his lips as he leaned his forehead against the other male's. Kieren couldn't help it, he couldn't bring himself to care that his entire family was in the room with them, he just leaned in close and pressed a quick kiss to his boyfriend's lips. It was his way of saying thank you, thank you for being here, thank you for staying.

The room around them quickly exploded into chaos after that, but not for the reason Kieren expected. The yelling wasn't coming from his little sister in fake disgust, she wasn't telling her brother to get a room. His parents weren't telling them to keep their hands to themselves or to cut it out with the PDA. Amy wasn't awwing at the sight of her two best dead friends forever showing affection with a kiss. Instead, there were a group of men breaking into the house, demanding that Kieren came with them immediately.

"He's not going anywhere with the lot of you, I--" Simon started to say, his hands latching onto Kieren in a protective manor as he tried to hold him back. Kieren took a hold of one of his hands, squeezing it tightly in his own before taking a step towards the group of men, allowing them to lead him out of his own house as he glanced back at the panicked look on Simon's face. 

He told himself that he would be back soon, that if he followed their orders, they would let him go back home. He got into the back of their van, expecting to be taken into town, where they would ask him a series of questions then send him back home to his parents.

He didn't think they would be driving him to Norfolk, at the request of his own parents who he would later be told were concerned he would take more blue pills and go rabid on them. He would feel abandoned by his own family, he would learn that they saw him the same way as everyone else in their town did. He wouldn't want to go back home when they were done with him.

If you were sent back to Norfolk, you weren't treated nicely, not like the first time you were there. You were treated as a non compliant. They would break you, take away any sort of self acceptance you built up. You would no longer be taught 'I am a partially deceased sufferer and what I did in my untreated state was not my fault' but the complete opposite. They would keep you there until eventually you saw yourself the way they saw you; as a monster. That's how Kieren was treated. For a year. Until eventually he was signed off to return home, the last place he wanted to go.


End file.
